New Zealand dominate final T20 to claim series

DUNEDIN, New Zealand:

West Indies saved their worst performance for last to hand their T20 International cricket series to New Zealand on a platter, as they slumped to an eight-wicket defeat in the fifth and final match on Thursday.

For the fourth time in the series, the Windies' top order failed to fire, to see them eventually dismissed for 140 in 18.4 overs after they were sent in to bat at University Oval.

The home side then made light work of the target, with Devon Conway scoring an unbeaten 47 off 42 balls, while fellow opener Tim Robinson smashed 45 from 24 balls, as they cruised to 141 for two 1n 15.4 overs.

ANTICLIMATIC

It brought an anticlimactic end to a series that was marked by three thrilling finishes and a rained-out contest, and gave New Zealand an emphatic 3-1 series win.

Despite the West Indies' batting struggles throughout the series, head coach Daren Sammy opted to shorten the batting line-up by replacing opener Amir Jangoo with pacer Jayden Seales.

It meant that skipper Shai Hope was promoted to open with Alick Athanaze, and he started off positively by guiding Jacob Duffy's first ball of the match over third man for six and the last ball over cover for four.

New Zealand struck in the next over when Kyle Jamieson leapt to haul in a return catch to dismiss Athanaze for just one with 12 runs on the board.

Ackeem Auguste got off the mark in fine style by pulling Jamieson for four through midwicket and followed it up by driving him to the cover point boundary two balls later.

THREE-WICKET BURST

But Duffy transformed the complexion of the match by snaring three times in his second over.

First, he had Hope caught by wicketkeeper Conway after his attempted heave over cow corner ballooned into the air, and two balls later he bowled Auguste with an inswinger that cannoned into leg stump.

Duffy then picked up the wicket of the out-of-sorts Sherfane Rutherford, caught behind for a duck, as West Indies slumped to 21 for four in the third over.

Rovman Powell smashed a six and a four before another attempted big hit sailed into the hands of Mark Chapman on the cover boundary to leave his side in further trouble at 48 for five.

Roston Chase, who top-scored with 38, and Jason Holder tried to repair the damage during a 42-run stand for the fifth wicket, until the former edged Jimmy Neesham behind to the keeper.

The Windies then lost the wickets of Holder for 20 and Matthew Forde for a duck, for the addition of just four runs, to see them crumble to 94 for eight.

It took the efforts of Romario Shepherd, who made 36 off 22 balls, to get the visitors up to their eventual total, before they were bowled out with eight balls remaining in their innings.

Duffy, who was named Player of the Match and Player of the Series, ended with 4-35, while Neesham took 2-31.

- CMC